- Do you have a cowboy builder story? E -Mail matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
A cowboy builder who left a huge gap in a woman's house after charging her £ 17,000 for work when his company was about to be avoided to be sent to prison.
Gary Roberts, 60, signed a contract that promised to complete an extension of the back of the ownership of the woman, Chester heard Magistrates '' Court.
Within one week after the contract signed in May 2021, the wife Roberts had paid a down payment of £ 10,000.
She made a further payment of £ 7,000 a month later, although he knew that his company GR Developments 1 LTD was in financial trouble.
The builder, from Old Spot Way, Winsford, in Cheshire, has never completed the project that ran off the site and left a gaping hole in her house.
Since then he has been instructed to pay his victim more than £ 10,000 in compensation and received a prison sentence of six months, suspended for two years.
David Snasdell, lead investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 'Gary Roberts left his victim in a state of ending despair after her house closed.
“He should never have signed a contract with her because he knew that his company was in financial trouble.
“Protecting the public against rogue traders such as Roberts is something that takes the insolvency service extremely seriously.”
Do you have a cowboy builder story? E -Mail matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
Cowboy builder Gary Roberts, 60, left a huge hole in a woman's house after she had charged her £ 17,000 for work when his company was about to bust to bust
Chester Magistrates' Court heard that the shady builder told the victim that it would cost around £ 17,000 for new windows and a back extension.
But only a few weeks after signing the contract, Roberts received advice from professionals about placing GR Developments 1 LTD in liquidation, which made him run off the site.
Ci Snasdell said: 'The back of the victim's house was completely exposed to the elements after he had been taken out of the kitchen.
“Roberts and his company also left a huge mess in her garden, with debris and rubble everywhere.”
During that time he paid himself £ 11,513 between May and July 2021 knowing that his company was Insolvent.
It was eventually resolved in January 2023.
Roberts was convicted of fraudulent manner removing real estate pending the liquidation of a company, in contrast to section 206 of the Insolvency Act 1986 on Monday 31 March.
The builder, from Old Spot Way, Winsford, in Cheshire, has never completed the project that ran off the site and left a gaping hole in her house
Roberts was then exiled for 10 years as a company director for his misconduct at GR Developments 1 LTD, with the disqualification until February 2034.
He was also instructed to complete 20 days of community rehabilitation activities, pay £ 1,000 in costs and a surcharge of £ 154.
The woman has since completed her extension in April 2022 after employing other traders.
Ci Snasdell said, “Fraudulous behavior that causes clear financial damage to innocent people will be thoroughly investigated by the agency.”
Do you have a cowboy builder story? E -Mail matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
